Gilroy Compassion Center: Staying busy, making progress

The Gilroy Compassion Center – a grassroots outreach organization offering food, clothes, shelter and support services – is showing no signs of slowing down on its journey to becoming a year-round homeless shelter.

Located at 8425 Monterey Road, the facility recently expanded its hours of operation from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. The center was previously open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“The center is now seeing 15 to 20 people per day,” said Compassion Center Director Jan Bernstein-Chargin, who mentioned a private donor dropped off a “very appreciated” supply of umbrellas last week.

The center also has a new Operations/Office manager named Rachel Sanchez Parodi. She has been a volunteer on the Gilroy Homeless Task force for several years and sits on the Gilroy Housing Advisory Committee.

Events on tap

Coming up later this month is Project Homeless Connect, an event occurring several times throughout the year. Based out of San Francisco with a local chapter in San Jose that assists cities such as Gilroy to organize convention-like gatherings of representatives from various service agencies, Project Homeless connect will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 30 at the Gilroy Baptist Church at 8455 Wren Ave. In addition to sleeping bags, jackets and a free meal, visitors can receive assistance and information from resources such as housing, continued education, employment, mental health, social security, youth services and mobile units offering dental/medical treatments. To inquire or volunteer for this event, call (408) 763-7120 or email [email protected]

The Compassion Center is beginning a fundraising campaign for the work needed to upgrade its current location (an industrial warehouse building) into full-service shelter. The kick-off event will be “Notes of Compassion,” a performance of orchestral classics by the Brigham Young University Sinfonietta at 7 p.m., April 12 at South Valley Community Church, located at 8095 Kelton Dr. in Gilroy. The concert will be followed by a dessert buffet. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from members of the Gilroy Compassion Center Board or online by clicking here. For more information about sponsoring this event, contact Dick Dryden at [email protected]

About the Compassion Center

The Gilroy Compassion Center provides drop-in access to basic needs, including bathrooms, personal care items, laundry, clean clothes, supplies for daily living and respite from the streets. The Center also provides one-stop access to resource information, referrals, workshops and clinics offered by social service agencies and service professionals such as substance abuse counseling, legal clinic and personal counseling. A connection to other services through telephone, the Internet and quarterly Project Homeless Connect events is also provided.